Assassin series RE: Brothers vs Brother
by Askre5
Summary: Collection of short stories that involve Assassin Leonardo and his interactions with his three brothers. Magistrate Raphael, Ninja Master Donatello and Deputy Michelangelo.
1. Deputy Michelangelo - Always hopeful

**A/N:** Brothers against Brother is collection of one-shot stories. These are independent stories all filed here under a single category.

Basically this is A-Leo vs. his own brothers. Could be fighting, could be something else. These stories pretty much just show what the three other turtles have to deal with regarding the Assassin.

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 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**  
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

AU turtles are based off the idea of the TMNT.

Other characters including Jack, Jeff, Clarence, Carl, Maggie and Tony are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

These stories are copyright © 2006 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

 **Warning: These stories could contain intense violence and torture. Implied and perhaps mildly described adult situations.**

 **If you don't like to see characters suffer these might not be stories for you. If you are of a sensitive mind, then you have been warned. Each story has its own rating.**

 **To fully understand these stories, being familiar with the Assassin's series is advisable.**

 _Collection of short stories that involve Assassin Leonardo and his interactions with his three brothers. Magistrate Raphael, Ninja Master Donatello and Deputy Michelangelo._

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 **Deputy Michelangelo - Always hopeful**

 **Rated T for violence and some language**

Michelangelo stared at his grim faced image in the mirror as he tied on his orange colored mask. He still wore it, the only one of his brothers who still wore their original masks. It was the one tiny bit of their past the turtle refused to let go off. For some reason he just didn't feel whole without it.

He made sure his orange elbow pads were securely tied as well as his kneepads. Those he had gotten custom made and in the same color and his mask. He couldn't really remember why, just had them colored that way.

Finally, he dressed in his silver-grey custom made shorts, put on the belt and got his sleeveless grey vest. He nodded satisfied and walked out of his bedroom. In the living room he met his literally quiet brother Donatello, the dogi wearing turtle sat in the sofa watching the TV.

"Yo Don, I'm going out," Mike announced to his brother. Don looked at him, it was this rare occasion where he didn't have his black facemask on, so his scarred beak and dark almost emotionless eyes could be seen. He simply nodded in response.

"Just be like at home, remember to lock if you leave," the orange masked turtle said before he left the building.

Donatello did sometimes stay at his place, he never gave a reason and Mike never asked. He couldn't blame him, they were twins and sometimes they just needed the company of each other. Didn't have to communicate, just know that the other one was present.

Mike breathed in the cool night air and walked to his sports car that was parked in front of his garage. He lived in the suburbs of New York, moved there shortly after taking the title of deputy under his brother Magistrate Raphael. The house had actually been a gift from the citizen of New York. They loved their turtles and wanted everything the best for them. That was the only reason Raphael held his office in New York and Donatello was teaching in the university there.

Unfortunately, they also loved Leonardo. Mike gritted his teeth when he remembered his oldest brother. The black masked assassin and bounty hunter. Unfortunately, most of the citizen didn't know about the assassination part of his life, they only thought he was bounty hunter. It irked Raphael and Michelangelo to no end how Leonardo could keep his image so clean for the general public, while showing his true colors each and every times to his brothers.

The orange masked turtle sat behind the wheel and started his vehicle. It was a birthday gift from Donatello. The dogi-wearing turtle had maybe taken up a dark brooding attitude, but he smothered his twin brother, in fact was very overprotective of him. Mike didn't earn much as a deputy, but Don did as both a University professor and as an inventor. He as well didn't have the burden of owing Leonardo money.

As he drove out of the driveway, Michelangelo sighed. He had once tried to sue his own brother, tried to bring the truth out. Raphael had told him it was bad idea, as did Donatello. Mike hadn't listened and it cost him that now he owed the assassin thousands of dollars for harassment. Leonardo could afford very good lawyers who almost literally tore the orange clad turtle into pieces and ended up charging him for harassment.

The turtle banished those dreary thoughts out of his mind. He didn't have to worry about it now; tonight Mike was going to drive around the city. Hope to spot a club or a bar he could actually try to have a good time in. Not going to worry about either his financial problems or how to get back at Leonardo.

Raphael called those good times of his fake. Didn't really believe he was really enjoying himself at all. Looked more like he was just looking for an excuse to drink and end up in a fight.

"This isn't you, Mike, this isn't you having fun. You having fun was playing pranks, shooting jokes, being the optimist of the family. You are just asking for trouble doing this," he had once said but Mike just brushed it off.

His car drove into the city and he was forced to stop at a red light. The turtle sighed, just his luck. It was as if the streetlights hated him. Shaking his head, he glanced to his left when a black car stopped next to his. The window slid down and man peeked out of it reaching with his hand towards the turtle.

"Yo Mike my turtle, howzit hangin'," he greeted the turtle cheerfully. Mike regarded the man, recognizing him as one of his few friends in the city and a fellow deputy for his brother, Raphael.

"Doing fine, Jack," Mike greeted back and reached out and their hands slapped together in a friendly fashion.

"Where ya headin'?" Jack asked.

"Just driving around, hoping to spot some action somewhere," the turtle answered.

"Well then spot ya later, me I gotta meet the old man am'afraid," the man said and gave a thumb's up. Mike just nodded, the black car drove off once the green light came and so did the turtle.

Mike contemplated his direction. He could try the midtown area but wasn't so sure. Hated to leave the car there if he decided to have drink, then again he always did have a drink when going out. There were the possibilities of some clubs closer to the outskirts.

For a while he was just content on driving around, watching the nightlife slowly growing. For a moment the turtle wondered if he should just go and see if Raphael was in a tolerate mood. The magistrate sometimes got a bit testy, sparks from his old days as the hot head of the family, especially when he got bad news at work. Very bad news, like that Leonardo had done something he couldn't prove.

No, Mike didn't want a lecture or a rant so he shook that idea quickly away. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was not midnight yet. The night was still young, in fact barely an infant.

He was now driving through a fairly quiet section. The turtle frowned, wondering how he had gotten here. This wasn't a usual neighborhood to go through if you wanted to go clubbing. He shrugged it off and decided to see if he could spot a way to the midtown area.

As Michelangelo was driving down the dimly lit road he spotted a movement up on the rooftop. He stopped the car and leaned out of his open car window. It was a large apartment complex the vehicle was in front of. Up on the roof he definitely saw something.

"Oh crap," he muttered. There was no doubt about it, crouching on the ledge was the silhouette of a turtle that stared down at him. There was no doubt for Mike who that was, when the figure waved, it just confirmed it. The orange masked one gritted his teeth; he could almost see the mocking smirk that was no doubt plastered on Leonardo.

Mike wondered if he should. Leonardo was egging him to come, daring him to do something about his presence. He did it all the time with Donatello. They bitter rivals now and Don used every single opportunity he got to fight the assassin.

 _Mikey, Don is trained. Splinter even has awarded him the title Master. We two are not as good. Do not engage Leo, ever. Please Mikey, he is too good. Donny has been training to handle him, we are just going to have to sit on the sideline and offer what help we can from there._ Raphael's words bore through his mind. Mike knew he spoke the truth. Leonardo was just too skilled now. Only Don was his equal. Still Mike sometimes wished to beat the snot out of his older brother and hope it would knock the senses back into him.

Oh he could still fight. Mike still practiced his ninja skills and so did Raphael. However, neither of them did it as relentlessly as Leonardo and Donatello. Raphael now only did it to stay in shape; Mike did just for the heck of it.

The turtle parked the car in front of the building. Out of the glove compartment, he picked out his nunchakus. Like with his orange mask, he was the only one who still held both of old weapons. Leo had dropped one katana, probably so he could have the rifle on his back as well. Raph had switched from the sai to the butterfly swords and Don most of the time used two Jo staffs.

He stepped out of the car and noticed that the figure had disappeared from the ledge. Looking around Mike darted into a nearby alley and jumped up for a ladder on a fire escape. The turtle ascended up quickly and silently.

Mike climbed up on the rooftop and looked around; there was no sign of his brother. However, that was inconclusive and the turtle knew that all to well.

"Well, well little brother, see you have decided to come out and play," a chilly voice greeted him. Out of the shadow came Assassin Leonardo, wearing his black gear.

"What do you want, Leo?" Mike decided to ask, his nunchakus were still tucked in his belt. Nevertheless, he was ready to draw them up. Leonardo sneered at the nickname, for some reason he had begun detesting it.

"That's Leonardo, Michelangelo," he growled narrowing his eyes on the orange clad turtle. "Or should I say, Deputy Michelangelo."

"What do you want?" Mike snorted. He was not going to attack first. There was still a chance he could walk away with out doing anything.

"Just seeing how my little brother is doing, all alone in his shiny red sport car," the black clad turtle said with a mocking smirk. "I'm surprised you can even afford that, considered that you are behind in payment."

"For your information, Don gave it to me," the orange masked one grunted.

"Oh how nice of him. Always looking out for his twin brother, does he still tuck you in? Read you bedtime stories? Oh wait he can't, he can't talk," Leonardo said and then laughed. "Sorry forgot that he's a bit tongue tied, literally."

"You should know. YOU cut his tongue out," Mike snarled but restrained himself from approaching. Leonardo didn't answer that just shrugged.

Suddenly the black clad turtle darted off and jumped to another rooftop. Michelangelo frowned, wondering what was going on. A tiny voice in the back of his mind told him to go down and just leave. However, another one told him to follow, which he did.

Leonardo continued to jump from rooftop to rooftop, leading his brother further and further away. First Mike had no idea were they were going and why. Then he realized that the noise of traffic was getting lower and lower. The turtle cringed; the assassin was leading him away from possibility of anybody seeing them. They were approaching a warehouse district, were prying eyes and ears were rare if existing at all.

The black masked turtle finally stopped on top of a large warehouse, abandoned one by the looks of it. Mike followed soon after landing in a crouched position, as he was rising up Leonardo turned around to face him. The assassin smiled a smile the orange masked one had long since learned to hate.

"You know what I love about you Mikey," he said. "You are so predictable."

"Why are you doing this Leo, why hunt people for money. Why kill for money," Mike asked, his older brother just shook his head rolling his eyes.

"And you never give up," he then growled and put one hand on his single katana. Slowly he drew the sword up.

"I dragged your sorry little tail over here because I'm going to give you a little choice," Leonardo said as he twirled his katana. "I can forget you owe me money and clean up your debts."

"Oh really, I suppose there is a catch," Mike grunted and frowned.

"I'm offering you to join me; we can be just want you want again. Brothers, if you do then you won't owe me any money." The assassin shrugged slightly.

"Join you?" the orange one's jaw dropped in shock. "Are you crazy? You think I have any desire to do what you do?"

"I didn't think so." Leonardo sighed. "But it was worth the try."

"Why don't you just simply turn yourself in? Why don't you let out the truth about you?" Mike shouted pointing accusingly at his oldest brother.

"You really have turned into quite the idiot Mikey. The truth is, I like where I am currently." He smirked devilishly. "And I really did enjoy kicking your sorry little tail at court. I saw you cry when the judge gave his verdict. I saw those little tears crawling down and that priceless look of utter disbelief. You were always such a crybaby Mikey."

"YOU almost RUINED me!" Mike screamed. "It wasn't enough for you to win against my charges. You had to rub salt in the WOUND!"

"Aw, no need to shout, I can hear perfectly from here," Leonardo said mockingly.

Mike was now seething. The assassin was mocking him and bragging about his court victory, double victory in fact. The orange clad turtle wanted to scream and charge at him, knock that grin off his face.

"What's the matter Mikey, going to cry again?" the black clad one chuckled.

"Shut up!" Mike roared.

"Crybaby," the assassin continued to mock him.

That did it; Michelangelo whipped up his nunchakus and charged. He didn't care if that made him the aggressor, striking first. All he wanted was silencing that mocking voice. Wipe that smirk off him.

Leonardo grinned and got ready with his katana. The brothers locked into battle that unfortunately didn't last very long. Mike was seeing red and not thinking clear enough to beat someone as skilled as his brother was.

Before Mike even knew it, he was on the ground disarmed and wheezing for air. He had been kicked so hard in the plastron that all air had just left the lungs. The turtle was on his knees, fighting to control his breathing.

He heard a clatter of metal and looked up. Leonardo had thrown his katana away but stood nearby him with folded arms.

"Let's try this again without weapons," the assassin said smirking.

Mike growled and rose up. He quickly tried to punch that was blocked easily by his brother. Leonardo shook his head in disapproval and kicked. The orange clad one just barely had time to dodge it.

The younger turtle fought now like mad, he punched and kicked but it was no use. The assassin was too fast and most of the attacks went into thin air. Leonardo on the other hand made contact each and every time.

The orange masked one grunted when a hard upper cut hit him in the jaw, it was followed by an even harder hit in his stomach plate. The assassin didn't even cringe at hitting the plastron. He did a sweep kick that threw his brother off his feet. Mike landed hard on his carapace.

Spitting out blood Mike rose up again but was starting to feel dizzy. Leonardo just stood still and waited. The younger turtle stood up straight and put up his hands in ready fighting position, the assassin smirked and lunged forward.

Michelangelo hardly even had a chance to defend himself. He was hit hard in the head again and as he stumbled backwards, his left arm was grabbed and Leonardo twisted it. Mike screamed in pain, he then heard a crack.

"You son of a bitch!" the turtle cried as he fell to the ground grabbing his left arm and cringed at the pain. "YOU BROKE MY ARM!"

The assassin didn't respond. He kicked with his right foot and it landed on Mike's beak. The orange clad turtle's head snapped up and he fell backwards, crying in pain. The last thing he saw was a black sandal wearing foot rapidly approaching his head.

* * *

When Mike opened his eyes, he recognized the white surrounding of a hospital room. He was in a hospital bed, the left arm was in a cast and much of his body and head were bandaged. Slowly looking up he cringed at the sight of his second oldest brother.

Raphael sat in the far end of the room but so he was right in front of the bed. He was wearing his usual brown sleeveless shirt, brown fingerless gloves and blue custom made jeans that were cut short from the knees and down. The dark green turtle had his eyes narrowed on the injured turtle.

"The official report is that you were found unconscious in an alley after having been attacked by a gang," he growled. "You were found by your brother Leonardo who mercifully brought you to the hospital."

 _Oh crud, not another lecture,_ Mike thought. He recognized Raphael's looks and he definitely had the lecture expression on his mask-less face.

"Nice going Mikey, now everybody is praising that jerk for being such a nice caring older brother, bringing his injured baby brother to a hospital and paying his bill and everything. You made him look even more of a hero than he already is for the general public." Raphael stood up and walked closer to the bed.

"I told you not to engage him, I told you not to fight him. Why did you do it anyway? You know he's too strong, too fast and too damn skilled. On top of that, he fights dirty now Mike. He doesn't believe in honor any longer, you of all should remember that," the magistrate continued and was now at the end of the bed, glaring at his younger brother.

Mike didn't answer, there was no use. No answer would be good enough anyway. Instead, he just looked away.

"Mike, I want nothing more than to nail that bastard. However, going against him head on is not the way to do it. He's too powerful at the moment; he has the public on his side. They think he is a hero and while they do he is untouchable." Raphael sighed, he never knew if his words really went through. Mike had mastered to pretend to be listening while not really listening at all.

"He even called off that harassment debt that you owe him, you see what you did? You played right into his ploy to look even better on the outside," he told his little brother. That got Mike's attention; the turtle turned his head back towards the magistrate.

"W-what?" he said shocked. "B-but… b-but."

"You mean… he planned this?" Mike was stunned and cringed when Raphael narrowed his eyes and sneered.

"Mikey," he said in warning tone. "You know he always has a plan. He always plans; he never does anything without a reason. Except those damn Leo hunts of his, other than that he always has a fucking plan."

"He knew your debt to him was ruining you financially, he knew you were having money trouble and sometimes had to relay on Don for help. Everybody knew about that, after all it was because you tried to sue him that you got into that trouble. Now by 'finding' you unconscious and injured, he could pretend to feel pity for you and call off the debt. Making him look so good, the generous, merciful and forgiving older brother." Raphael sighed and looked down.

"So it was a damn trap," Mike muttered. "He wasn't really trying to get me on his side. No wonder he threw away the katana and fought barehanded."

"That should have tipped you off that he was up to something." The magistrate had heard him. "Leo never fights hand to hand unless he has been disarmed."

"Yeah, he didn't want to give me a sword cut. That would have been a tip that I wasn't maybe attacked by a gang," Mike groaned.

"Well it's too late now, if you even try to dispute the official statements you will just be labeled as an ungrateful snob of a brother. I don't like it any more than you do to take this silently but we have no choice, because we have no proof," Raphael said and turned away from the bed. "I'm going to the office; you'll be off duty for a month."

"Yes sir," Mike muttered and Raphael left the room.

The turtle sighed heavily, mentally scolded himself for falling so easily into his brother's ploy. Now that he thought about it, it all made sense. Leonardo had him park the car in a general residential area and then drew him away from it to a much quieter part of the city. There the assassin could easily attack him and make it look like a gang did it. Then simply carried him to a hospital and made it look like he had been found like this.

He heard something and looked to this right but saw nothing, only the window of his room. Looking forth again, he almost jumped when seeing Don now sitting on the chair Raphael had sat on.

"Jeez Donny, do you always have to do that?" Mike grunted. The dogi-wearing turtle didn't do anything, just stared at him underneath the yellowish goggles on his black head-mask. However, the injured one knew his twin was glaring at him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Raph already gave me the lecture," he grunted and looked away. It was impossible to hold Don's gaze, even when he wore the mask.

Though Donatello was literally, the silent type he didn't go unnoticed when he wanted to be noticed. He appeared right beside the bed, in the direction Mike was looking in. His arms were folded and he continued to stare down at his injured brother.

"Look I… I…" Mike sighed; he knew he had no excuse and Don would remind him of that if he tried. "Okay, I wasn't thinking, happy?"

Don shook his head. Of course he wasn't happy; his beloved twin brother had been viciously attacked by the person he used to call older brother. Person he had a personal vendetta against. Had cruelly mutilated him, removed his ability to speak and there was hardly a single thing they really could do about it.

"Don I'm sorry… I just…" the injured turtle closed his eyes. A single tear crawled down.

"Just sometimes…sometimes I wish he was back," he sobbed. "I want him back Donny… I miss him. I miss Leo, the kind gentle older brother we had. We could go to when Splinter was away, cared for us and protected us."

The dogi-wearing turtle stared at his now crying brother. A sigh escaped from his black covered beak. Don then put a comforting hand on his shoulder. It puzzled him though that Mike still didn't give up, still thought that there still was a chance. Raphael had no such hope, just was content on finally gathering proof that could land Leonardo in jail.

Donatello felt personally that Leonardo was dead, at least the Leonardo he had once known. The person they called that name now was a monster that had taken his place, removed all good meaning from it. Don like Raph had no hope that Leo would ever return.

The dogi clad turtle felt a tear come down his own cheek. It always pained him to see Mike like this, desperately clinging to the hope, refusing to let it go. It just made his orange wearing twin more and more miserable, because that hope always failed, dashed in Leonardo's latest plots and schemes.

He stayed at the bedside until Mike finally stopped crying and slowly drifted to sleep. Don then carefully tucked his brother in before swiftly and silently left the room.

 **End Deputy Michelangelo**


	2. Ninja Master Donatello – Always vigilant

**Ninja Master Donatello – Always vigilant**

 **Story rated T for language, some violence and implied situations**

He walked silently among them. The young people that worked hard taking apart small engines and putting them together again, trying to understand the principles behind them. The classroom was one of the largest in the university, specifically intended for this particular class.

Donatello, just walked around making sure everybody were doing what they were supposed to be doing. In his class nobody slacked off, it was a certain doom to do so with a large red F. Of course he always gave second chances, but not until after staring the student down. His piercing glare was just enough incentive to work harder for any student; no one could stare back yet.

It didn't help matters that Donatello didn't and couldn't speak. That made the silence all that much heavier when he was glaring somebody down.

However, nobody was slacking off today and that made the turtle happy on the inside, but he hardly ever showed it on the outside. All that the students got was usually a nod of approval on a neutral face.

"Professor Hamato," somebody addressed him. He turned to face a young man who beckoned the turtle to come. Don approached in few swift steps, his expression alone asking what the student wanted.

"I'm not sure I understood this correctly." The young man showed the paper, containing today's lecture. He pointed at a certain line that explained some of the basics of the engine the man was assembling.

Donatello sighed, picked up the paper and beckoned the man to follow him. They walked deeper into the room and towards a whiteboard. The turtle picked up a pen and began writing on it, indicating to the man to watch.

The turtle used the whiteboard to explain to the man what he hadn't quite understood; the student nodded and wrote down what was on the board. Don then handed him the paper again and the man returned to his table.

The turtle sighed and looked down, when he was teaching he wore only part of his dogi uniform. These were one of the few times he could be seen without his mask. Also the rare moment his eyes shone at least slight emotions, instead of being cold and without a trace of them.

He looked over the classroom and his eyes narrowed; he spotted definitely excitement in some of his students. There was something up, probably going to happen after school. The turtle frowned and then noticed something on the table of one student. He walked over there and picked up a small ad. This he did so swiftly and silently that the girl jumped when the ad just suddenly vanished from the table.

"Oh, Professor Hamato, you startled me," she said smiling slightly. Naturally, there was no response from him; he just stared at the ad with a frown.

"This is a band that's playing tonight at the stadium," the student explained. "Major hit, I think everybody who can is going."

Donatello stared at the paper that indeed advertised a major band playing at the local stadium. He flipped the ad over but the back was just white. The turtle returned the paper and walked away. He didn't care much for events like these.

The clock ticked and soon the class would be over. Already those who had been the fasted were putting things away. However, Don didn't need to look at a clock; he was in fact already at the entrance to the room ready to hand out papers. Just about a minute later, the class was finished. The students began gathering their stuff and leave. Of course nobody escaped their Professor who handed out a paper with homework to each and every one of them.

Don looked around the classroom as he gathered up his own things. Seeing nothing amiss he walked out and locked the door on his way. As he was walking down the hallway, passing many excited students that were talking about this band playing tonight, he met up with his brothers.

"Yo Donny, how are you doing." Magistrate Raphael smiled as he patted the dogi wearing turtle on the shoulder. The silent one just shrugged.

"You ready to have lunch?" Deputy Michelangelo asked, for once carrying a neutral expression rather than grim. Donatello nodded.

The three turtles left the university and headed for Mike's red car. Raphael took the back seat allowing Don to sit in the passenger one. Their orange masked brother drove away to their favorite diner.

As he was going to eat, Don didn't bother to put up his mask. He knew people would be surprised to see him without it, but that was a small prize. They all stepped out of the car and headed inside.

"The younger deputies at the office are constantly talking about this damn concert or whatever this is at the stadium tonight," Raphael said as they were sitting down at an empty table. Donatello nodded, aware of that by now.

"It isn't even a good band," Mike muttered and brushed something off his gray vest. A waitress approached them and the three turtles placed their orders.

"Don't tell that to, Maggie," Raph said and nudged his younger brother with an elbow. "She's going nuts over it."

"Your secretary? When are you two just going to stop that hiding business and smooch already," Mike retorted at his mask-less brother.

"Jeez, I remember secretary day once and everybody thinks we have a thing for each other." The magistrate laughed, Don raised an eye ridge clearly unimpressed. His orange wearing twin just shook his head.

"Call me old fashioned but I don't think ten red roses plus a candy box is an appropriate Secretaries day gift, sounds more like a valentines," the deputy grunted.

"I'm just a good boss," Raphael stated with a grin. They were silent for a moment when the food arrived and began eating.

Don was eating slowly; a nagging feeling was going through him. Suddenly his head jerked up and he turned in the seat. His brothers noticed the change in his attitude and looked up as well.

 _Oh crud,_ Raphael thought. He could almost hear Donatello's teeth grind.

Into the diner had walked a very familiar face. Wearing a black mask, shirt, elbow and kneepads and on the feet were sandals. Just this once he didn't have his katana or rifle on the back nor his utility belt. Leonardo was slowly removing the gloves off his hand as he casually looked over the place.

Their eyes locked, one set cold hard and emotionless, the other with a hint of amusement. A smug smile crept over the assassin's beak and he immediately headed in their direction.

"Well, well what have we here," Leonardo said once he was standing by the table, unfazed by the three set of dagger glares he was getting. "Enjoying lunch?"

"We were enjoying it yes," the magistrate said, trying to sound not too peeved. "Then you came!"

"Funny, I thought Mikey was the jokester," the assassin chuckled and glanced at Mike who had decided to return to his lunch, but he was muttering something.

"You want something, Leonardo?" Raphael asked and briefly examined his brown fingerless glove on the right hand. He then glared once more at his black masked brother.

"No, not really just saw you here, figured I would drop by to say hi," Leonardo's voice was very mocking.

Donatello sneered and abruptly stood up from his seat, slamming one hand on the tabletop in the process. He was now standing face to face with the other black clad turtle. The assassin looked at the olive green one almost uninterested.

"Oh you're here," he said smirking. Don pointed at him to leave.

"What's the matter, Donny, cat got your tongue?" Leonardo said so softly and low that only the three turtles heard it. The dogi wearing one actually managed to make a sound that sounded a bit like a growl.

"I think you might be interested to hear this one, Don, you know this concert tonight at the local stadium?" the assassin said never taking his eyes off Donatello. He was the only one who could stare straight into his eyes without flinching. Leonardo leaned a bit closer, grinning almost madly.

"Guess who's managing the security," he whispered and stood up straight. With a self-satisfied smile, the assassin left the three turtles.

Donatello sat back down; ignoring the occasional glances they were getting from the other patrons. It was known that the three of the turtles were on a bad term with their oldest brother, so this hadn't been very surprising.

"He's just riling you up, Don," Raphael warned his now fuming dogi wearing sibling. Don stared at his food as if he intended to murder it.

"And he succeeded," Mike muttered.

* * *

Donatello switched between channels almost every five second. His focus wasn't really on the television; he continued to think about the encounter at the diner. The turtle gritted his teeth, hating the idea that the person he loathed was supposed to handle the security at this concert.

Concert his students were attending. He hated to admit it but with Leonardo on the security, it would be top notch. Still he growled at the thought he had to relay on him to protect his students.

The dogi clad turtle stood up and turned off the television. He walked to the large window in his living room and stared out; it was evening and dark outside already. This concert would start in about an hour. He sighed, knew there was nothing he could do.

Don opened the window to let some of the cool night air in. He had the mask down so the breeze played around his scarred beak and grim face. The turtle pondered whether he should go out tonight; the mind was just not on patrol. Then voices caught his attention.

Leaning a bit out, just enough to see over to the next house the Ninja Master witnessed a verbal fight. The daughter was arguing loudly with her mother.

"You are not going!" the older woman said.

"All my friends can go, why can't I? I'm old enough to be there," the girl argued.

"I'm not discussing this young lady. I know you're just going there because that bounty hunter is supposed do the security. I swear you are obsessed with that turtle," her mother said.

"That's not true, I like that band and I own their CDs and I want to listen to them live," she argued.

"I said I'm not discussing this," her mother repeated.

There was silence after that, though he could hear the annoyed and frustrated snort from the girl. Donatello frowned as the turtle thought back to what the mother had said. Especially regarding a bounty hunter who was also a turtle, he knew only one who fit that description.

The dogi clad turtle rubbed his chin thoughtfully, he was sure this girl wasn't the only one going to the concert just to see Leonardo. Many young girls and women seemed to be very attracted to him, some almost on brink of obsession. The assassin exploited it, despite his apparent aversion to mammals.

Donatello looked around and then put up his mask. He closed the window and then silently left the building. However, he didn't go far, instead he kept close to his neighbor's house watching and waiting.

As he had suspected, the girl sneaked out half an hour later. What he hadn't suspected was that she had called for back up. A car suddenly appeared and stopped on the road near the house. The girl immediately jumped into it before Don could even approach.

The dogi clad turtle frowned, he had always kept an eye on his neighbor's children for reasons of his own. The one old enough to go out to town he followed silently from the rooftops. Making sure that no mugger or any other punk got near them, the younger ones he allowed too play in his yard. In fact, he had built toys for them to use as they saw fit. Donatello had always liked children. They were the future and he wished to have some part in preventing them to have a similar future and he got, when his so called brother had gone nuts. Kids were about the only thing that actually could bring a smile to his face, though it usually was well hidden underneath his facemask.

Yes, his neighbors knew a different side of the silent and half-brooding turtle. They sometimes caught a glimpse of his old kinder self. The one he had back when he could talk with his mouth.

Silently Donatello took for the rooftops. He knew where she was heading so he simply went in that direction. It took him awhile to arrive but eventually the turtle was on the roof of the building closest to the stadium.

Don began contemplate his next move. At most he could do for now was surveillance, see if anything happened. Legally he couldn't do much otherwise, especially if Leonardo was just doing what he was supposed to be doing. The turtle narrowed his eyes behind his goggles; people were still arriving and entering.

From the inside of his dogi, Donatello brought out his night vision binoculars. He put them on after removing the mask and the goggles. Then zoomed in on to the entrance, as suspected Leonardo was there making sure nobody tried to sneak in. No one got inside without a ticket.

The silent ninja frowned when the assassin seemed to be handling somebody rather roughly. Grabbed the front of the man's shirt and was snapping something at him, then pushed him away. The man quickly made his getaway; Don zoomed on his face and realized that Leonardo had just kicked a drug dealer out. The dogi-clad one had in fact several times busted sales this guy was making.

Donatello had to admit, the assassin was doing a good job. However, if the turtle wanted to hear anything he had to get closer. Then there was a risk that Leonardo would detect him. The Ninja Master mulled over his options, he could keep the guard from here. Alternatively, possibly patrol around the stadium. The latter option was riskier, especially if he didn't want Leonardo to know about him.

Don decided to stay put for now and watched the people enter. He had to endure watching Leonardo being swarmed by his fan-girls, which he obediently signed autographs for; on various body-parts. The Ninja Master grimaced when few girls had their breasts signed.

 _For somebody who hates mammals, you sure are eager to sign,_ he thought and had to look away, couldn't look at this anymore. If these girls only knew the true character of their 'hero'.

Finally, everybody who could was inside, the doors were closed and security guards made sure nobody tried to sneak in. Don frowned when he saw Leonardo suddenly began walking around the stadium, his job was apparently to keep the area clear.

That made sense since the assassin wasn't probably the only security guard, more were no doubt inside. There were probably others going in a circle around the stadium as well. Donatello sighed frustrated. Looked like nothing was going to be out of the ordinary, in fact seemed like it was going to be a long boring night.

He yawned wide; he knew this neighbor's daughter was inside. He had seen her enter the building. Of course after having her arm signed with Leonardo's autograph.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet and spun around, both hands ready to draw up his Jo staffs. He relaxed when he recognized his brother, Magistrate Raphael. The mask-less turtle held out his hands in sign of surrender.

"Whoa easy, Donny, just me," he whispered with a slight grin. Donatello gave him a glare before turning around again to face the stadium.

"I kind of figured you would be here, after what Leo said." Raphael walked closer so he could have a view of the stadium. His brother just crouched back down, didn't even look back again.

"I know how you feel bro, some of my deputies are inside there, as well as Maggie. I don't like it one bit that I have to relay on Leo to keep things safe down there," the magistrate said eyeing the dogi-clad turtle. "How many of your students are there?"

Donatello gave a hand signal with a single hand, but never took his eyes off the stadium. Raphael nodded when seeing the signal.

"Yeah I suppose you're right, you don't really know how many," he shrugged and then saw Don do another hand signal. The magistrate frowned. "The Hallberg's girl? Isn't she like 16 or something?"

"Oh 17," Raphael said when his brother corrected him using a single hand. "Hm, I do recall 17 was the age limit."

"Well bro I feel safer knowing you are here as well, guess I can't order you around." The magistrate grinned and patted Don on the shoulder. "Good luck."

Donatello just nodded in acknowledgement before the other turtle was gone. He continued to stare towards the entrance of the stadium, he had spotted movement there and not from a guard.

Two girls in the company of two boys were walking away from the stadium, he didn't recognize them and the couples were soon inside a car and drove away. Donatello realized that the concert must have been going on for two hours by now. He noticed Leonardo was making yet another circle around. He looked very bored. That was a small comfort for the Ninja Master.

Again he saw people move by the entrance. This time he frowned hard, almost scowled. It was his neighbor's daughter and she was in a company of three guys. Donatello zoomed closer and noticed immediately that one of the men held her hand rather forcefully. There was no doubt about it, she was not going willingly but was too scared to let anyone know.

The men didn't go to any cars, they seemed to be going around the stadium. The turtle immediately took off, approaching the side that led to the four people. As he got closer, the ninja removed his binoculars and put on his mask.

Donatello did not like the looks of this. They had let the girl out of sight, for the untrained they were well concealed by the dark. The turtle heard a slap and whimpering, then harsh voices. The Ninja Master gritted his teeth; unfortunately for the three men the dark didn't just conceal them.

He landed so softly on the ground that barely a sound was heard. Quickly he sneaked closer and could hear the girl beg. It was only answered by laughter. Donatello drew out his Jo staffs and attacked.

The men hardly even knew what was going on until far too late. Two of them were supposed to stand guard while one would take care of the girl. Suddenly, one of the guards was suddenly knocked over, the other guy ripped away from the girl flung aside. The third had barely turned before he was suddenly grabbed by the shirt. The man was pulled closer and stared right into the yellowish goggles of Donatello. He could just make out the cold, emotionless eyes, practically daring him to fight back.

"W-what the…" he couldn't get any further. Don threw him away so he landed harshly on the ground.

The man was about to stand up when there was a sound of a sword being unsheathed, then suddenly a katana tip was resting were the neck met his shoulder.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on here?" a chilly voice asked, a flashlight was turned on revealing the assassin. He held the sword up against the terrified man's throat.

"I was… we were…" the human blinked; there was no sign of the attacker or the girl. Both were gone.

Leonardo frowned and looked at the two unconscious men, his eyes narrowed. The turtle then glanced at the man he prevented from standing up. A smirk crept over the assassin's beak; he removed the sword and sheathed it.

"Why don't you pick up your pals and beat it and I might forget I saw you here," he addressed the man before turning off the flashlight and disappeared into the dark.

Donatello watched from the nearby roof when the man started to drag one of his comrades away. The turtle gave what sounded like a snort and shook his head. He had carried the girl away from the stadium and called a cab. Then sent her home with it, he paid for the trip. She had not protested and was in fact very eager to go.

The turtle saw the man return for his second companion and was soon dragging him away. The Ninja Master rose up snorting again, at least the girl was safe. He had pretty much done what he really intended. Ensure her safety.

"Always the Good Samaritan eh little brother." A chilly voice prompted Don to swiftly turn around. Behind him in a slight distance was Leonardo, his katana was carried flat on his shoulders with the blade behind his neck. The assassin was grinning mockingly.

Donatello gritted his teeth under the facemask. His eyes glared at the other black clad turtle, Leonardo had lifted the sword and was now twirling it lazily. The dogi wearing one knew that he assassin was waiting for him to strike.

"So what were the punks you knocked out doing? Nothing too bad I hope, then again you let them go rather easily," Leonardo said and chuckled slightly.

The Ninja Master folded his arms still glaring at the other turtle. The reason he had actually acted so quickly was because of the assassin. Don had felt he was coming closer and hadn't wished to be detected. Unfortunately, though Leonardo had detected the turtle, otherwise he wouldn't be facing him.

"Hm, so you planning on moving anytime soon?" the assassin asked mockingly.

Don was very tempted to strike, but Leonardo with his sword ready was a difficult opponent. Even without his sword, the older turtle was hard to beat. So the Ninja Master stayed put.

"You are so pathetic. Don," Leonardo shook his head, the swung the sword and charged.

The dogi-clad one immediately drew up his Jo staffs, twirled them before using the weapons to block the katana strike. They glowered at each other, though the assassin did have a mocking smirk on his beak.

Leonardo backed away and swung the sword, but a Jo blocked it and the basic green turtle was forced to dodge the other staff. The assassin quickly retaliated with a kick but Don jumped it easily.

Their fight continued and more fiercely with each strike. Don hammered his Jo staffs left and right and Leonardo alternated between blocking and striking with his sword. Occasionally they would try sweep kicks or punches.

"I'm sorry to be a party pooper," the assassin said after the fight had dragged on for almost half an hour now. "But I have a job to do."

Donatello grunted and tried to hit Leonardo in the head with both staffs. However, the other black clad one saw through it, ducked and dodged before stabbing with his sword. The Ninja Master gritted his teeth when the blade got within his defenses. It had hit him directly in the flesh on the side that his bridge didn't cover. Don quickly backed away clutching the bleeding wound.

Leonardo narrowed his eyes on him; Donatello took his hands off the wound and charged. The assassin shook his head and disappeared off the roof. The Ninja Master halted, knowing that he couldn't really chase the other turtle into the open.

The assassin was just simply too popular, Don might even risk being arrested if he was seen fighting the older turtle. Sighing the dogi clad turtle grabbed for his wound once more. It was still bleeding.

Don removed his mask and used it to put a pressure on the wound. He managed to get down from the rooftop and to the street. Before he went to find a cab, the turtle picked up a notepad and a pen and wrote an address. Once he found a taxi, Don showed driver the note and was promptly driven there.

The Ninja Master paid for the fare once they were at the house. He had managed to prevent the blood from leaking on the seat. Therefore the driver made no fuzz about it.

The turtle stumbled towards the door and rang the doorbell. It took a few minutes but a light was finally turned on in one room, a distant grumbling was then heard and few rather colorful words. The door opened and Don stared at his twin brother Michelangelo.

"Don? Oh man, you pick the worst times," the deputy grunted but stepped aside to allow his brother in. He immediately noticed that the dogi-clad one was injured.

"So ran into Leo did you?" he asked while helping his brother to the living room. Don was eased down in a chair before Mike went to fetch the first aid-kit.

Donatello removed the top half of his dogi to reveal the wound. It didn't look too deep but probably needed stitches. Mike returned with the kit and was shortly later mending his brother. When that was done, the blue-green turtle picked up the uniform and Don's mask without question and took it to the laundry room.

The silent turtle moved from the chair and to the couch lying down there. His sibling returned and sat down in a nearby recliner.

"Want a beer?" the deputy asked but his twin just shook his head. "So, what did Leo say?"

The olive green turtle snorted and scratched his scar-ridden beak. Then he did a hand signal for his brother. Mike nodded rolling his eyes.

"Yeah he is an idiot, I agree." The deputy scratched the back of his head and yawned. "If you change your mind, there is beer in the fridge. I'm going back to bed. Raph is being his usual tyrant self, I have to report in early tomorrow."

With that, Michelangelo stood up and left the living room. Donatello watched him disappear into the hallway that led to the bedroom. The Ninja Master sighed and grabbed for the TV remote, he turned on the set but put the volume all the way down.

Good thing it was Saturday tomorrow and he had no classes to teach. Although that wouldn't usually deter him, he just wanted his wound to heal properly first. Otherwise it would annoy him and just make him more short tempered on his students.

He was soon though fast asleep on the couch, tired after a long day and the brief fight he had with the assassin. The last thing that really crossed his mind before drifting into the dream world was:

 _At least the girl is home safe._

 **End Ninja Master Donatello**


	3. Magistrate Raphael - Always on duty

**A/N:** This story is about Magistrate Raphael, we get a better idea what his and Mike's job is all about. And that it isn't all about hunting Leo

Pay little attention to all the earth dimensions mentioned, just keep in mind that these turtles and their world is in diplomatic contact with several dimensions but not alternative worlds. These earth dimensions are all different with no doubles running around. But like I said, pay no attention to it, these are just identification that they are from another world.

Oh and the airport later in the story is probably a bit influenced by the Gardemoen international airport in Oslo, there you can have refreshments and stuff before you go through the gates or pass the area you need a ticket for.

This story is kinda an unofficial sequel to Deputy Michelangelo, and happens during the time of A Broken Hero. Few days after A-Leo released Leonardo

* * *

 **Magistrate Raphael - Always on duty**

 **Story rated K+ for language, some very mild violence**

"Yes, that's true, we decided that it was too risky and canceled it," Raphael said in the phone. He was leaning in his office chair and with his legs on the desk.

"Look I'm the Interdimensional Magistrate in this world, it is my job," the turtle growled and sat up more properly, taking his feet down.

"Look the guy is wanted in several worlds, why should we allow him to come here and hold whatever 'concert' he's planning to hold." Raph sighed at the answer he got and shook his head.

"I have made my decision, it is final," the magistrate growled in the phone. "And it's been approved by the proper authorities. The guy is not coming to this world."

"Idiots!" the turtle snorted as he hung up the phone. Then he glared at the two persons sitting in a couch in his office. One was his brother Michelangelo and the other was a tall human. Both wished to sink down at the glare they got.

"You guys read his records, you both thought we would be crazy to allow this guy to come right?" he asked them, both were quick to nod and showed no expression on their faces. Raphael growled and leaned back in his chair.

"So guys, what do you two have for me today?" he asked and brushed something off his brown shirt.

Mike scratched his head and looked at the human who didn't seem as eager to begin either. Finally, the orange masked turtle looked at his brother with an uneasy grin.

"Um… we suspect that ah…" he started. Raphael sighed heavily realizing what they were having trouble with saying.

"What did our dear brother Leonardo do?" he asked, the two deputies cringed fearing a rant coming if they said anything more.

"He was seen near the old abandoned factory down in the lower east side," Mike carefully started and looked at his co-worker for support.

"He seemed to be well carrying something, a body or something. But at further investigation both he and whatever was carried was gone," the human added.

 _Well, not as bad as it sounded._ Raphael felt only slightly relieved. Now the questions was what was the assassin doing in the lower east side, at an abandoned factory with what might have been a body. The magistrate frowned and felt slight desire to find out himself. He glanced at the papers that lay on his desk and picked them up.

"Jeff, there was an incident at the institute for interdimensional travels; take Clarence with you on that. Get further information from Maggie," he said picking up one paper and offered it to the human. Jeff stood up nodding and grabbed the document before heading out.

"Mike." Raphael picked up another paper and examined it critically. "Looks like I have a babysitter duty for you."

"What?!" his brother shouted and half rose in the couch.

"An important diplomatic figure from earth dimension 465 is visiting this world. She will be arriving in Washington tonight, you'll get the plane tickets with Maggie," the magistrate said and offered the papers to his brother.

"Babysitting a diplomat, come on!" Mike protested staring at Raph in disbelief.

"Mikey, this is what we do. Our job is not just to thwart Leo's schemes. We are interdimensional law enforcers and security guards in addition with investigating inderdimensional crimes. This is our job, this is your assignment and you are taking it," Raphael snapped.

"I was hoping to…" the deputy stopped short when seeing the face Raphael gave him.

"That is precisely why I want you in Washington tonight. You are not going to that old factory to see what Leo was up to, you are too emotionally involved regarding him right now," the magistrate snapped. "Few months ago he broke your arm and severely injured you. Only to bring you to a hospital and claim he found you after being beat up by a gang. I know you want payback but you are not going to try and confront him."

"But I…" Mike stopped when Raphael raised one finger in a warning that he better not continue.

The gray vest-wearing turtle sighed in surrender and stood up. He grabbed for the paper and Raphael let go of it. The younger turtle stared at his brother critically but then he realized and frowned.

"You are going there yourself," he said accusingly.

"My job isn't just to sit on my ass and give assignments, my job is to investigate as well," the magistrate simply said staring straight at his brother without blinking.

"Man this sucks," Mike grunted and stalked out of the office. Raphael sighed yet again and shook his head.

He would have wanted nothing more than allow his brother to go and investigate the factory. However, Raphael hated to show favoritism as well as he wanted to protect Mike from Leonardo. He sometimes suspected that the assassin really was after their younger brother and that concept scared him.

Raphael stood up; he picked up his fingerless brown gloves and put them on. Then he walked to a rack that held his Butterfly swords. He grabbed the weapons and put them on his belt, then after slight consideration, picked up a single sai that was on the rack as well. He placed it on the belt behind his back and concealed it with his shirt. The turtle fixed his blue jeans a bit before finally walking out of the office.

"Maggie, I'm going out. I don't know when I'll return, hold all my calls," the turtle addressed his secretary as he walked past her desk.

"Alright Raphael," the black haired woman said, they both looked at each other and Raph gave her a small smile that she returned.

Raphael walked out of the building and headed for his own car. Before he sat down, he fixed the weapons so they wouldn't stick into anything in the seat. Then the turtle drove off and headed for the lower east side of the city.

* * *

"Another drink?" the bartender at the airport asked.

"No, my plane will leave soon," Mike grunted and returned the glass. He stood up from the stool and walked out of refreshment area.

He was still frustrated of being booted off the chance of investigating the factory. Ever since Leo had trapped him, breaking his arm and then pretty much coming out as his savior, he wanted nothing more than revenge.

 _Babysitter duty._ He glanced at the folder tucked under his arms. It contained both his plane tickets and his assignment papers.

"MIKEY!" was suddenly yelled. The gray vest wearing turtle spun around and saw a human coming running towards him. This one was wearing a long black raincoat and underneath some common street clothes.

"Carl? What the hell are you doing here?" Mike asked with a frown when the human came closer. They shook hands.

"I heard you got the Washington assignment, the diplomat," Carl said breathing a bit heavily, having probably run across the entire airport in search for the turtle.

"Yeah, Raph put me on the babysitter assignment," Mike growled and glowered at the folder.

"We need to swap man," Carl said surprising the turtle.

"Are you crazy, Raph will have our hides… well your hide and my shell," the orange masked one said in a hissing whisper, as if he feared his brother was around to listen.

"I'm serious Mikey, I need to be in Washington today. I can easily babysit that diplomat for you," the man said and then produced a folder from under his coat. "Look the tyrant gave me a short investigation of a diner, two merchant from earth 69 were squabbling with the locals. I have already solved the issue; they are on their way home all you need to do is write the report and give it to Maggie."

"When Raph finds out, we will be helping old people and school children across the road for a year," Mike said though he did eye Carl's folder with a slight hint of desire.

"Ah, tell him I'm swapped your folder without you knowing it." Carl offered his folder.

"He never believed my excuses before, why do you think he'll do it now?" the turtle asked but did reach for his own folder and handed it over to the man. Then he accepted the other one.

"Mike, you just gave my aunt a marvelous birthday present," Carl said patting the turtle on the shoulder and ran off towards the gates.

"Wait WHAT?" Mike turned and saw the man disappear into the crowd. "Cheapskate!"

 _Damn, he needed to get to his aunt's birthday party and wanted to use the assignment to get there… ok that was actually clever._ The turtle shook his head and looked at the folder in his hands. "Well I guess writing a short report is better than babysitting a diplomat."

Mike left the airport and went straight back into town. He drove to the large building that housed the office of the magistrate. As he parked in the employee parking lot, he realized that he had to go past Maggie to get to the Deputy Work area.

 _Crap I don't want Raph to find out I'm still here, at least not until I have the report finished,_ he left the car and sneaked closer to the building. He glanced inside and saw that the receptionist was not at her desk. That gave him a chance; the receptionist and his brother's secretary were friends and did lunch together.

He entered and quickly ran into the hallway that would lead both past Maggie and towards the work area for the Deputies. Unfortunately, he didn't even get past the desk.

"Michelangelo? You are supposed to be on a plane heading for Washington," Maggie's voice said.

 _DOH'_ Mike halted and looked at the woman with indifference.

"Um… I swapped with Carl, he had to go his aunt's birthday and that is in Washington," he said shrugging carelessly. Maggie shook her head and looked at him disappointed.

"Mike, you know that the deputies are not supposed to swap duties," she said.

"I know, I know… just that….I just hate babysitting," Michelangelo said and looked at Carl's folder. "Look, I just need to finish a report for Carl; he had finished his assignment for the most part anyway."

"Very well, but you know I can't keep this silent, after all you have to sign the report," the secretary said. Mike sighed and nodded, he knew that too well. Then he spotted a slight worry in her face.

"Uh something wrong?" he asked and noticed that Maggie was pushing the button that would contact Raphael's car phone.

"Your brother went out few hours ago, he said he didn't know when he would return but I would have thought he would report in. Just to let know that he was alright," she said.

 _Yeah, we all know why you want to know if he's alright,_ Mike hid a smug smile.

"Wait he went out?" suddenly the orange masked turtle realized what she was talking about. "He went to the factory!"

"What?" Maggie looked at the turtle but Mike was already on his way back out.

* * *

Raphael groaned and stroke the sweat off his forehead. He was sitting up against a very old wall; his left leg was wrapped with his own shirt. A slight blood trail on the old wooden floor indicated where he had crawled. At another distance was one of his Butterfly swords, he still had the other one and one of his sai. He had used the fork like weapon to splint his leg.

"Hurt doesn't it."

"Shut up!" Raph growled and cringed when a stabbing pain came all over his body. He had to have a fracture somewhere else. He glanced up to see the hole on the root. He had fallen through there. Barely managed to brake the worst fall by grabbing various beams on his way down, but still had managed to break his leg and probably suffered from other injuries.

However, in his mind, the worst part was his current companion. Sitting on a box nearby was Leonardo; the black clad turtle was occasionally drinking from a bottle. He kept glancing at the mask-less turtle.

"Teaches you to be climbing on a roof of old buildings, you never know when it will simply give in," Leonardo said and chuckled.

"It gave in because you jumped on top of me and forced me through it!" Raphael growled. The other turtle just looked at him, the expression alone just stating that would never be the official report.

"So are you going to do the same with me and Mike? Drag me to the hospital and claim having found me and out of goodness of your heart helped me?" the magistrate snapped and gingerly patted the wrapped shirt around his leg. Just making sure it was still properly around and tight enough.

"No," the assassin said rather flatly and shrugged. "I'm sure they'll realize that you are missing and come looking for you. I'm just keeping you company until someone does."

"Great!" Raphael shook his head and glared at his smiling so called older brother.

"Water?" Leonardo offered the bottle but Raph just looked away sneering. The basic green turtle chuckled and took a sip.

"You have always been stubborn, Raph. You still are, so damn bloody stubborn," the assassin said and shook his head. "And you used to be a hothead too, but you are so calm now. You sure have changed in that manner."

"Somebody had to," Raphael snapped and grimaced as he moved his left leg accidentally.

"You went nuts on us, attacked Donny and abused us all with your violent training. Somebody had to keep a level head when you finally left. Splinter had already lost all hope and was just there. Don, thanks to you, couldn't speak and was always brooding and Mike was crying for weeks he was so afraid you WOULD return," the dark green turtle snarled and glared now at Leonardo who just raised an eye ridge.

"No, there is still something left of that little hothead I used to know." The assassin smirked. "I still remember our arguments Raph, still remember how you had to pick apart every little plan I made. You always thought I was being in your way, always thought I was on your case."

"I was young and stupid ok, I realize now that back then, when you were sane, you were just looking out for me," the magistrate said. He tried to sit up more properly but then had to drag the left leg a bit and winched.

"Don't you miss those days?" Leonardo asked and sipped from his bottle.

"I miss the time when you were sane and honorable," Raphael muttered.

He realized that it might have been a mistake leaving the phone in the car. However, he had figured that the assassin was long gone. In fact once arriving at the factory, he wasn't even sure he would find anything. This would simply go into the unresolved folder back in the office.

The magistrate had gone to the roof of the factory in order to get a better view of the surrounding area. Wondering what the black masked turtle had been doing here. As he had been walking across the roof, he had encountered him.

The assassin had wasted no words and just attacked him. Raphael was thus forced to bring up his Butterfly swords and defend himself. However, Leonardo apparently had planned things. His attacks were forceful and forced the magistrate to back. Raphael continued to be on the defensive, he was trying to figure out what was going on.

Then they had arrived on the spot the assassin wanted him on. Suddenly the black clad turtle had lunged at him. Raph had been so unprepared that Leonardo managed to slam him to the pavement of the roof, directly on a weak spot that created a gaping hole. The magistrate fell through but not the assassin, he had been prepared. A grappling hook went out from his hand and the black clad turtle swung to safety.

Now Raphael lay on the floor with a broken leg, possible factures and other wounds elsewhere. Leonardo sat unharmed on a box nearby, pretending to be keeping him company. However, the magistrate was sure something else was up.

"Honor," Leonardo snorted and shook his head, waking Raphael up from his thoughts. "I loved the bitch because I thought she was honorable."

"Who are you talking about?" Raph wondered, there was a sneer on his brother's face.

"Who do you think." The assassin looked at him. "Karai of course."

"It was rubbed into her face what her father had done," the black clad turtle said throwing the bottle away and stood up. "His crimes were pretty much forced down her throat. Yet she dared to call him honorable and wowed to kill me and my so called family because we killed him."

"Honor doesn't exist, Raphael, except as some feeble ideal some crusty old crooks believe in. There is no honor in this world, It's a dog eat dog world just like you have always ranted about when we were younger. There is no room for honor in this world, you are either on the top or you are squashed," Leonardo growled and swiftly walked to where he had thrown the bottle and picked it up.

"You really believe that don't you?" Raphael was shocked to hear this.

"I believe only in taking care of myself now. I was young and foolish when I was jabbing about honor and things like that. I had long since woken up from my stupidity when I ran my sword through Karai's throat," the assassin returned to the box and sat down.

"That does not excuse your crimes," Raph growled. At that Leonardo only smirked and shook his head.

"I hope you don't forget Raphael, you can't prove a thing and I'll continue to deny it," he said and shrugged. Then from a pouch, he drew up something round.

Raphael frowned when seeing the object. Leonardo was fingering it, flipping it around between his fingers. Finally, the magistrate got a good enough glance to see the large L on the flat gray surface.

"What the hell is that?" he finally asked. The black clad turtle smiled and looked at him.

"It belonged to a counterpart," Leonardo said and continued to admire the object. "The second one to have a buckle like this, I took it off the belt but I think I'll put it back on, fits better."

 _Damn those Leo hunts of his._ Raphael gritted his teeth. He was unfortunately to well aware of his brother's so called 'training runs'. Called Leo hunts by him, Mike and Don.

"Let him go few days ago," the black clad turtle said with a shrug and put the buckle back in a pouch.

"So you had him captive, great, doubt he enjoyed the company," the magistrate grunted and shifted a little bit. The pain in the leg was driving him nuts.

"I did," Leonardo said with a very disturbing tone in his voice and smiled strangely.

 _You are a sick demented bastard._ Raphael looked away. "So what were you doing here, Leonardo?"

"I wasn't here," the assassin smirked and stood up. "In fact, never was. If anybody asks I was in my mansion all day."

"What makes you think people will believe you this time," Raphael growled but his eyes flew up wide open when Leonardo drew up his dart gun. The last thing he saw in awhile was the smug smile on the assassin as he shot a dart at him.

* * *

 _Ow._ Raphael slowly woke up, but this time he was lying down. As he slowly looked up, he recognized the interior of Mike's sports car. He was lying in the back seat.

"Hang in there Raph, I'm taking you to the hospital," his brother said from the drivers seat.

Raphael glanced down and saw both his butterfly swords on the floor. His leg was still splintered by his sai. Why hadn't his brother just called an ambulance? No better question was why was his brother here?

"W-what the hell?" The mask-less turtle tried to rise but cringed at the pain in his back and changed his mind.

"Sorry Raph, I panicked when seeing you on the factory floor. I was already laying you in the seat when I realized I should have called an ambulance instead," Mike said. Raphael could feel the car take a turn.

Suddenly another thing hit him and he went for the pocked of his jeans. However, there was nothing there. The turtle cursed loudly now, the assassin had realized about his tape recorder.

"Ok we're here, just wait." Mike stopped the car and left. Raphael could hear him shout for help.

Hospital staff was soon dragging the turtle out of the car and carried him to a bed. He was rolled into the hospital and to an emergency room. The whole time a doctor was examining his wounds.

"You splintered your leg well magistrate and with a weapon, never seen it done like this," the human said as he carefully looked at the wrapping on his leg.

"You learn a thing or two when you have to live in hiding for the first years of your life," Raphael muttered and then glanced at Mike who was running with the bed as well.

"You!" he snapped, Mike looked at him a bit startled. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in Washington!"

"Ah, I swapped with Carl," Mike said with an uneasy grin.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Raphael shouted but a nurse came to the orange masked turtle's rescue, others held the magistrate down. She pushed Mike away from the bed as they approached the emergency room and told him he couldn't go any further.

"Oh believe me I had no intention too," the blue-greenish turtle said

"Michelangelo you and Carl are in big trouble when I get out of here, you hear me? BIG TROUBLE!" Raph managed to shout before he was taken into the room. Mike gulped and excused himself from the rather surprised nurse.

"I think I'll just step outside and call Don, tell him what happened," he said and hurried back outside.

* * *

Mike sighed and slowly tapped with one foot. He looked up and down the street bored out of his skull. The turtle glared down at the yellow vest he was now wearing over his gray one, then at the stop sign he had in his left hand. Glancing back, he cringed when seeing the group of children approaching.

Shaking his head, he walked across the road and stopped in the middle. He faced the traffic, put up the sign and signaled to the kids that it was safe to cross. When this group had safely gone over the road, he stalked back to the sidewalk.

"Having fun are we?" Mike glared to his right. Approaching was Raphael sitting in a wheelchair, pushing it was Maggie. His left leg was in a cast and his whole upper body was bandaged.

"You sadistic bastard," the orange masked turtle growled.

"You know the penalty for swapping duties," the magistrate reminded him with a grin. "If it makes you feel any better, Carl isn't enjoying his stay at the nursing home, helping the old people to get in cars or across the road."

"Look if I hadn't swapped, you would probably still be in that factory with your broken body," Mike growled.

"That's not the point Mike," Raph snapped, his deputy immediately hung his head. "This is something that is out of my hands. My deputies are not supposed to swap duties. Your assignments are not trading cards. I could pick what kind of punishment I was to hand out if this was broken. It was either suspending you both from your duties for a month without pay or this, charity work. I picked charity work because that keeps you on the payroll and I can call you back to duty whenever I need you. Beside, helping shouldn't be that much of a punishment you are at least doing something worthwhile."

"Yes sir," Mike grunted and glared around. "So did you learn anything in that factory before you fell through that hole on the roof?"

"I didn't fall, Leo pushed me through," Raph muttered getting his deputy's attention again. The magistrate then told him what had happened for the most part.

"I had a tape recorder but the bastard figured it out and grabbed it." The magistrate shook his head in dismay. "I almost had him."

"So any idea what he was doing there?" the younger turtle asked.

"I have a theory," Raphael said. "The sighting said he was possibly holding a body. Chances are that this was a victim of an assassination. Leonardo was probably disposing of it. He was no doubt still in that process when I came, that was probably why he attacked me and pushed me through that hole. The only way to keep me away, by immobilizing and injuring me. He probably had Tony's help, and his servant was finishing the process. So while he waited he kept me 'company' for a while."

"Damn that bastard," Mike growled and tightened his grip on the sign.

"Well nothing to do about that now." Raph shrugged and looked around the area. He hadn't told his brother about the full conversation with the assassin. Some of it still disturbed him a bit. Suddenly a black convertible stopped in front of the sidewalk, sitting in the passenger side was Leonardo and driving was his human servant Tony Roran.

"What happened to you Raphael? Fell off a roof?" the assassin asked with a smirk when he looked at the three that stood on the sidewalk.

"Something like that." Raph glared at him, the black clad turtle was not wearing his mask but black sunglasses.

"How's the arm, Mikey?" Leonardo turned his attention to his youngest brother. The deputy didn't answer just looked away.

"What do you want?" the magistrate asked.

"Oh nothing really," the assassin shrugged and glanced at his servant. "Just driving around, I noticed you three standing there. So why is Mikey stopping traffic for little children? Did he swap duties again?"

"Just beat it, Leo," Raph growled. The black clad turtle glanced back at him rather amused.

"And here I was thinking of giving you a ride, looked like you needed it. Oh well, head off Tony, I want to see that new restaurant they were opening," he said and Tony immediately drove away.

"One day Leonardo," Raphael growled as the car disappeared. "One day."

"Ok Maggie, take me back to the office. Mikey! Heads up, another group is coming," he then snapped. The woman only smiled and began turning the wheelchair to move him away. His brother on the other hand sighed as he walked to the middle of the road to stop the traffic.

 **End Magistrate Raphael**


	4. Differences

**A/N:** I wanted to do a short where it shows well the differences between the two, Assassin Leonardo and Ninja Master Donatello.

It becomes even more evident near the end of this story

* * *

 **Differences**

 **Story rated K+ for mild violence**

It was a routine; he put on the uniform then walked to the training room, turned on the light, bowed in the doorway and entered. Ninja Master Donatello stepped into the middle of the room took position and began a warm up kata.

He did this every night, every day, every morning and every evening. He trained relentlessly. Keeping himself in shape, keeping his skills at their peeks. Never once did he break his schedule, not for anything, not even for rest.

Once he had been content on reporting to training when necessary. Then they had a sensei and had to live in hiding. They had been four brothers and their master, living underground in the sewers. Then another had trained so relentlessly, keeping his skills to near perfection. The one he had once called his brother.

Things changed. New situations presented themselves. Donatello was forced out of his lab, realized that the thing that had once been their brother was dangerous. Someone had to prepare, someone had to be able to fight. He took it on himself. He would train. So he did. Left the lab and began training.

In the end he had trained so much that he was told he had surpassed his sensei. There was nothing more he could teach him. So the turtle had been awarded with his title. Donatello vowed then to keep up to that name, he would continue to train. Because he knew the assassin wouldn't stop.

* * *

Up and down he went. Black gloved hands holding firmly the bar as his muscular arms pulled him up and down. The turtle sneered at every pull but never faltered once. Kept going and going and in his mind he counted.

Once satisfied with this workout he swung on the bar, went in a circle before letting go. He dove forward and landed gracefully on the training mat. Almost immediately, he dropped into a kata, kicking and punching. Sandal clad feet thrust up into air, or gloved hands hitting around.

Though he practiced the art, he no longer considered himself a ninja. The turtle had abandoned that title long ago. He was maybe an assassin but he was also a bounty hunter. A criminal mastermind who went far to reach his goals no matter the cost, he was relentless.

Honor and goodwill just got into his way. It left far too many enemies alive in his mind. Better get rid of them, quickly and effectively. Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was his thinking. Deal blood in blood.

He had once been like that, honorable, kind and respecting life no matter whom. However, anger and hate took over. He became resentful and aggressive. His master's attempt to change that failed. The turtle felt betrayed by his family and thus betrayed them in turn, declaring that he was better off without them.

Leonardo, assassin and bounty hunter kept on training as he always did. It was what made him so dangerous, so lethal. By improving on the skills once taught to him and adding others he learned elsewhere.

However, tonight he was also preparing himself for something else. As he thought about it, a devilish smirk came over his beak. This night was going to be very interesting.

* * *

Donatello had finished his warm up and had now in both hands his Jo staffs. He felt better to have two weapons than just one. It lessened the chances of being disarmed to quickly. As well as it did give an advantage, it meant he could hit from two places at once.

He swung the two staff around, doing various complicated movements. Striking and hitting with the weapons. It was difficult to use two Jo staffs but he had managed to master it. Surprising often many who met him for the first time, as this wasn't a usual weapon combination.

Now he wasn't just training to train. He was preparing himself, letting time pass until the right hour came. The Ninja Master had been challenged. Last night the message had arrived, embedded with a suriken on his front door. Apparently, the assassin was in a mood for a duel.

 _Come meet me if you dare._

 _West corner of fifth avenue, former Bronx area._

 _Tomorrow night, 1 am._

 _I'll be waiting_

For anyone else it could have been a note from anyone. It could just have been an anonymous note. However, Donatello knew who it was from; only one would challenge him like that.

He stopped his training, for a moment his emotionless eyes just stared forward. Then he placed the staffs on his back where they formed an X. He walked out of the training room and turned off the lights. Then went to the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror above the sink. On it hung the note he had received last night.

Donatello ignored it, grabbed his mask from the belt. Before he put it on, the olive green turtle stared at his image on the mirror. Scar ridden beak and cold hard eyes, once there had been an intelligent gleam in there. Not anymore. The turtle put on the mask that covered his whole head. Then placed the yellowish goggles over his eyes.

* * *

He held a single katana in his hand, swiftly hacking and slicing as he moved around the training room. Alternating between using one hand or both, his movements were swift and hard to register. There was a satisfied smile on his beak.

Suddenly he stopped and stood straight, holding the katana in vertical position before swiftly sheathing it on his back. Still smiling the turtle walked to the exit of his training room. It was time to go.

The assassin had a long run ahead of him. When going out like this, he never took a car or other mechanical transportation. The turtle always ran. He would have it no other way.

On his way towards the exit, he met with his servant. Tony handed him his black mask, which the assassin swiftly tied around his head. Nodding to the human the turtle left the building. He only had his katana on the back and his utility belt, this time he was leaving the rifle behind.

* * *

In a big city like New York was, especially this New York, no matter how famous or well known you were. You could still go around mostly unknown, especially if you knew how to remain mostly unseen.

There was thus no recognition in the guy's eyes when he had suddenly been snatched up from the ground. All he could glimpse was a black covered face with something yellowish covering the eyes, goggles maybe. The hand holding the shirt was also black covered and very strong. In fact, they were few meters above the air. The figure holding the guy was hanging on a fire escape.

A mugger, the guy had been trying to mug a young woman. Unfortunately, for him he had been spotted in the act. He was grabbed off the ground and held there, staring at some kind of figure. The woman had already fled, using the opportunity of the guy's sudden disappearance.

The ninja master quickly knocked the guy out and dropped him back to the ground. That was just light exercise, diversion to what was to come. However, he did this if coming across it. Helping people that needed it, most of them hardly realized sometimes that they had been helped until it was all over.

Once everything seemed to be in order, he climbed back up to the rooftop and continued his journey.

* * *

The assassin had arrived in the city. It had been a long run, but he barely felt it, already used to running a lot when hunting someone. He quickly made his way to the rooftops, unseen and silent. There was large grin on his face.

He began heading towards the upper city. Knowing he had a meeting with his main enemy. His brother Donatello whom he had challenged, he did this whenever he felt like fighting. So far he only felt the Ninja Master was a truly challenging target. Of course he would never admit out loud.

For a moment he halted on a rooftop, he heard gunfire. The black masked turtle glanced down and saw two men run out of a store, apparently one that was open 24 hours. They both wore ski marks, bags probably with money and held small handguns. An eye ridge rose on the assassin, years ago he would have leapt into action and stopped the two thieves.

Ignoring the situation, he continued onward on his journey. As he disappeared from the scene, the two thieves were already making their way through the back alleys in another direction. However, they hadn't gotten very far when something hit both them hard on the head.

Ninja Master Donatello spun his Jo staffs on both hands while standing over the two unconscious thieves. He heard people shout, clear indication that the men were being chased, thus he immediately disappeared into the darkness. Went back to the rooftops and continued, not knowing that he was almost directly behind his adversary.

* * *

The assassin landed on a rooftop but this time didn't continue. He had arrived and now there was only one thing to do, wait. The turtle quickly stepped into the shadows to conceal his presence, but that wouldn't stop the Ninja Master.

He felt Donatello's presence before the dogi-clad turtle was even on the roof. However, Leonardo knew that his brother also felt him. Both of them were so highly trained that in truth, they couldn't hide from one another as one always detected the other.

The Ninja Master landed on the rooftop and swiftly drew up his Jo staffs. He just stood there now, slowly spinning his weapons. The assassin shook his head, even when challenged Donatello would seldom strike first. He was waiting for him to take the first shot.

Leonardo was currently not in a chatty mood. Therefore, he skipped his usual taunting. Instead, he stepped out of the shadow, holding now his katana. Donatello's eyes were immediately on him, watching his every move. The assassin smirked and did a cutting move with his katana before taking position in front of his brother.

The Ninja Master stopped spinning the staffs and hit them together, forming an X in front of himself. The assassin just knew the black covered turtle in front of him was narrowing his eyes underneath the head mask. Suddenly Donatello moved, slowly but steadily. Leonardo did as well but in the other direction. They were circling each other.

Finally, the assassin charged forward, his katana ready for a slashing movement. The Ninja Master blocked the weapon and immediately crouched as he did a roundhouse kick.

The assassin jumped and landed on the other side of his opponent. Donatello just managed to throw his staff backwards to block an incoming sword. The dogi wearing one jumped up and turned to face the other turtle.

It had officially begun, now they each tried to score a hit with their respective weapons. The Ninja Master spun the staffs wildly and tried mainly to hit Leonardo in the head or the legs. The assassin in turned tried various stabs or slashes with his sword, most of them blocked by a staff, at other times Donatello ducked or dodged.

Leonardo spun as he tried to hew the sword on his brother. The Ninja Master backed quickly away and tried to hit his opponent with both staffs at once. The assassin blocked one staff with his sword and just managed to dodge the other one.

The fight continued for a while, neither one of them really did much damage. Donatello's staffs were starting to look a bit cut from blocking the sword so much. Leonardo had so far managed to avoid the staffs and only had an occasional bruise.

Both were beginning to tire a bit, they had to have been fighting for hours. Leonardo had finally managed to land a cut on Donatello's arm. The Ninja Master in turn had given him an ugly gash on the beak.

Neither was willing to give up just yet. For that, both were just too stubborn. Donatello was about to strike with his staff when he noticed a reddish glow. The assassin had as well noticed it. Both actually stopped in their fight and eyed in the direction of the source.

Far in the distance, they saw large tongues of fire, rising high up in the air. A building was burning. The turtles could hear the siren veil from the fire trucks and the police cars.

The assassin snorted and was about to get ready to continue the battle. However, the Ninja Master continued to stare towards the fire. Leonardo frowned when the dogi-clad turtle suddenly re-strapped his staffs to his back; he then took off towards the burning building.

The assassin's jaw dropped a bit. That had been unexpected, yet he felt it shouldn't be surprising. Growling he decided to follow, there was no way his opponent was getting this easy out of a fight.

Donatello arrived at the building closest to the fire. He frowned when seeing that the firefighters were having a great deal of trouble dealing with the flames, as well as getting people out. This could end in a disaster.

Leonardo arrived shortly later. He would probably have attacked if the Ninja Master hadn't suddenly run and leaped right on top of the burning house. The assassin walked closer to the edge of the rooftop and watched as the dogi-clad turtle disappeared down into the building.

The turtle sneered and sheathed his sword. He folded his arms shaking his head. He was about to turn, but had a second thought and looked back at the building. Donatello was making his way out holding something in his arms, wrapped in a blanket. His Jo staffs had caught fire and were burning, but the turtle ignored it and managed to get the bundle to street level. A firefighter with an extinguisher put out the flames that were on the Ninja Master, the turtle then finally collapsed to his knees.

The assassin sighed, looks like they were ending the fight whether he wanted it or not. He noticed that people were hurrying with both Donatello and the person he had saved towards ambulances. The dogi-clad turtle had apparently lost consciousness, as he had to be carried. Or he was simply just too exhausted to move on his own.

Shrugging the black masked turtle was going to head off when a scream came from the building. Leonardo frowned hard; there was still somebody in the building. The firefighters continued to try to put out the flames.

Their battle had ended sooner than he had liked, robbed him of his claim to victory. Looking at the flames a devious smirk came over his beak. Perhaps he could salvage that somehow.

* * *

Donatello woke up in his own bed. He hadn't been long on the hospital. All his injuries were minimal and after a check up, he was allowed to go home. He fallen asleep the moment his head landed on his pillow.

Yawning he walked to the front door to fetch the morning paper. He was still feeling a bit sore and tired after yesterday night. He stretched as he walked out of his house and towards where the paper lay. As the turtle picked it up, he waved to few of his neighbors were getting their papers.

He unfolded the paper; he wasn't really surprised it already had an article about the fire yesterday. It had a large picture of the burning building, they hadn't managed to save it and it had gone to the ground. Fortunately, though, nobody had been killed. Donatello halted on his way inside, his brow sunk and the eyes narrowed on the article.

 _Thanks to two of our turtle resident, nobody was killed in the fire,_ he read. Not one turtle, but two.

 _But… there was only me and,_ the Ninja Master's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He quickly scanned the whole front page and clenched his jaw.

 _First to arrive was Professor Hamato Donatello, who is known for taking exercise runs around the city at times, he managed to get a trapped young man out of the building. Second came his older brother Hamato Leonardo, the famous bounty hunter. He got two children who had been stuck…_ Donatello stopped reading and gritted his teeth.

 _The only reason he saved them was because he knew I would not like the idea of him being a hero,_ he thought and stalked back inside.

"Donatello." The turtle stopped on his way inside and turned. One of his neighbors was standing by the gate. It was an older woman, she was smiling and in her hands was a paper.

"It was very heroic what you did yesterday," she said and pointed at the paper. "It's an honor to have you in our neighborhood. Somehow it feels so much safer."

Donatello stared at the woman for a moment, wondering really how to respond. Of course he couldn't literally talk but he could give movements, hinting what he felt. The turtle then smiled and nodded before going inside. The woman walked back to her own house.

 _You didn't win assassin,_ the Ninja Master thought as he went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

 **End Differences**


	5. Less than one and half hour

**Less than one and half hour**

 **Rated K+ for violence and some language**

 **Time of events: Few years before the events of Turtotopia**

Ninja Master Donatello crouched on the ledge staring forward into the night. He was somewhere in the quieter sections of New York City. It had the least traffic, more chances of encountering someone of the shady nature.

Which was precisely why he was there, the dogi-clad turtle wanted to encounter someone. It was only about two months since Splinter had told Donatello he had surpassed him in skills. The old rat, who seemed to be getting older and older by the day, had finally felt he couldn't teach the olive-green turtle any more.

* * *

' _You have honed your skills to their highest potential and even further than that. There is nothing more I can teach you my son. I am proud to call you my equal,' the elder had said where Donatello kneeled, silent and grim faced, in front of him._

' _Rise, Ninja Master Donatello, you have more than earned it my son,' the old rat said and bowed for his dogi-clad son as the turtle rose to his feet. The newly titled Ninja Master bowed in turn. Then, Splinter's frail legs gave in and the old rat stumbled._

' _Careful father.' Raphael who had been watching was quicker to grab their father. The young magistrate helped the elder to a chair._

' _Thanks Leonardo,' the old rat mumbled and grimaced a little._

' _Uh father, it's me Raphael,' Raphael corrected his father; he then glanced worriedly at Donatello. They both shared now the same expression, their father was getting worse._

' _Oh right, my apologies… why do I always forget." The old rat sounded puzzled but then shook it quickly off. 'No matter, I just need a little rest. I am a little tired.'_

* * *

The Ninja Master sighed when remembering it. So far, Splinter had lived with Magistrate Raphael after they all moved topside few years ago. The very dark green turtle did everything in his power to take care of their ailing father. However, the twins, Michelangelo and Donatello, could clearly see that it wasn't working. Raphael was too busy with his new Magistrate position to really handle it.

So far he had stubbornly held on, but knew the truth. They would have to get help to take care of their father. Now that they had the opportunity, were citizens with all the rights that followed, it was just a question of when one of them would suggest it.

The dogi clad turtle pushed these thoughts aside for now and concentrated on his task. He was by far not new at this. Ever since Leonardo had resurfaced and claimed his fame about a year ago, the two black-clad turtles had encountered each other several times.

Donatello's main problem was that the so called 'bounty hunter' had skills that surpassed him. Martial arts form completely alien. However, the dogi-clad turtle had done his studies, he had managed to dig up some of common ones and was in the slow process learning them.

The turtle rose up and decided to head further east, might as well patrol around until Leonardo showed up. The other black-clad turtle went on regular training runs, just like back in the old days. Donatello suspected that it was more to these than simple training.

' _Don't forget what the IDA officials told me Don, there are suspicions that he might be taking assassination contracts.'_ The words of his brother, Magistrate Raphael popped up into his mind. For the Ninja Master this was a fitting title for Leonardo now. Assassin.

The hours passed and Donatello didn't seem to be going to encounter anybody. He shadowed two dark-hooded individuals, until they entered a car normally and drove off. The dogi-wearing ninja was starting to wonder if he should head home. While he was studying at the university, he lived with his brother Michelangelo. He was though thinking of buying his own house at a later time.

"Doesn't look too different does it?"

The voice froze the Ninja Master in his tracks. He quickly concealed himself and tried to pinpoint the origins of the sound. The turtle frowned; he could have sworn he heard a stifled sob.

"Move on, Leo, don't forget you are stuck here without me so you might just as well not get lost." Then there was a sadistic chuckle.

 _That's him,_ Donatello recognized the assassin's voice. _But who was he addressing as Leo?_

He carefully crept in the direction of the voice. The Ninja Master soon had a view of another rooftop further off. It was too dark to see properly. The olive green turtle removed the mask and picked up his night-vision goggles. Donatello almost dropped them in shock.

On the other rooftop he could see clearly the assassin. Clad in his black shirt, shorts, sandals, gloves and mask. He was carrying both his rifle and katana sword and the belt encircled his waist. However, that was not what startled the Ninja Master. It was the other turtle.

He had resemblances to Leonardo but didn't wear anything at all. His whole body showed clear signs of dehydration, starvation, bruises after beating and healed cuts after a sword. The turtle held his arms together, kept his head hung not daring to look at the assassin.

 _What the hell is going on?_ Donatello frowned heavily; this did not look exactly like the regular bounty. In fact, from what he had learned from dimension traveling in the university, this could be what was called a counterpart.

The dogi-wearing ninja reached that conclusion for the following reasons; records of sentient turtle species were rare, the turtle pretty much looked like the assassin, just no gear and it had finally been the black-masked reptile who had addressed the unknown one as Leo.

 _But why is he bringing a counterpart here?_ Donatello wondered. The obviously abused turtle was frightful, not daring to look at his counterpart. Winched and tried to stifle a sob when the assassin approached him and put one arm around his shoulders.

"Let's go back, who knows maybe will come back tomorrow," the assassin said and gently pushed the other turtle into a direction.

Donatello put down his goggles, still thinking. The only reason he hadn't attacked was he wasn't sure how much good it would do. He couldn't speak, so he couldn't warn the other turtle that he was a friend. The assassin could bluff the other turtle to attack him, making him believe the Ninja Master was dangerous to his safety.

He would have to talk with his brothers. They could maybe help him with this. The assassin had much greater chance of escaping with the counterpart if Donatello faced him alone. The Ninja Master thus disappeared into the darkness, heading home.

When Donatello arrived there, he found his brother Michelangelo sleeping on the couch. On the coffee table were two empty beer bottles. The Ninja Master sighed and approached the other turtle. He also felt the presence of another.

"I had to pick him up," the magistrate said as he came walking. He had been in the bathroom. "The bottles were there when I came with him. So I guess he had a few before he went outside."

 _Where did you pick him up?_ Donatello asked with a signal and sat on the edge of the couch, staring at his sleeping twin brother.

"At some party, he was trying to get into a fight. He took it really hard I guess," Raphael sighed and got seated in an armchair.

 _You think? The assassin pretty much slaughtered him at the trial, on top of that he pressed charges against Mike and won that case too,_ the Ninja Master said, the sarcasm was clear through the hand signals.

"Yes, I know Don…" The magistrate shook his head and then rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Quiet patrol I take it?"

 _Not quite,_ Donatello said as he remembered what he saw. Raphael looked at him, waiting for his younger brother to continue.

 _Saw him, but he was not alone. Someone was with him,_ the dogi-clad one explained and removed his head-mask. The grim expression was gone and instead he was thoughtful.

"Someone we know?" his brother wondered.

 _No… well sort of yes, but not really. I think it was the assassin's counterpart, from an alternative universe,_ the Ninja Master told him. The magistrate's eyes opened wide in shock.

"The hell was Leo doing in an alternative universe? AU's are well… it's not exactly recommended to travel there. The risk factor is so great; I mean you could end up meeting a complete opposite of you, the shock alone…" Raphael shuddered of all the possibilities.

 _Apparently, he was bringing a counterpart over. Someone who looked like he had underwent torture. Somehow, I doubt the assassin was rescuing him,_ Donatello said, his brow sinking into a heavy frown.

"Don… you think that Leo… you mean…" the older turtle got a little worried when his brother nodded. He knew the Ninja Master seldom jumped to conclusions; he had so far had the most encounters with Leonardo.

"Then we better get that counterpart out of there… but how." Raphael folded his arms and leaned back in the chair. His brother seemed to have all the answers, having already had time to think about it all.

 _Well I overheard him; they might return to the same area I saw them at tomorrow. I could engage the assassin and distract him from the counterpart. You and Mike would then grab the counterpart and make a run for it,_ Donatello explained to his brother.

"Sounds good to me." The magistrate nodded in approval.

Their attention was brought to the couch, there was a low groan coming from there. Michelangelo twisted and turned a bit, then opened his eyes. The orange-masked turtle stared groggily at his dogi-clad brother for a moment before sitting slowly up.

"Welcome to the land of the living," Raphael remarked dryly.

"Wha? I'm home?" Mike looked at his older brother and then back at his twin.

"I swear Mike, you better not try a stunt like that again," the magistrate said sharply, getting his little brother's full attention.

"I don't know what got into you tonight, but if you try to ignite a fight like that again. Unprovoked attack, I'll personally haul your sorry tail to jail and let you sober up there. I know it's hard to live with what Leo did to you, but what is done is done," Raphael continued much to Mike's horror. The magistrate had picked up a trait once more associated with their oldest turned-bad brother, Leonardo. Lecturing.

"Which brings me to the reason I decided to wait with you until Don came home and you woke up," the very-dark green turtle said narrowing his eyes on his little brother. "You are going to report to my office tomorrow, eight AM sharp. No excuse will be good enough."

"What?" Mike's brow sky rose in confusion. He didn't like where this was going.

"You think you can pay Leo monthly on your current salary as a writer?" the magistrate asked.

"Well… I… ah… um…" The blue-greenish one hung his head and whispered. "No."

"Then you report to me eight' o'clock tomorrow morning. I'll then officially appoint you as a deputy and put you on the payroll," Raphael said. He waited for his brother to protest further, but Mike sighed in surrender.

"Sure… thanks." As bleak as it had sounded, Michelangelo realized this just might be what he needed to help with his money trouble.

"I'll let you get back to bed, I'll see you tomorrow," Raphael said and rose up. "Goodnight guys."

"Good night." Mike rose slowly up from the couch and so did the Ninja Master.

 _Good night brother,_ the dogi-wearing turtle signaled.

* * *

 _Next nigh._

Donatello was again on the rooftop near the place where he had seen the assassin and the counterpart. However, this time he had company, though they were tailing him from a slight distance. He had a tracking device on him so the magistrate and newly appointed Deputy Michelangelo could follow.

He jumped to another rooftop to get closer, hoping that he wasn't on a wild goose chase. The Ninja Master landed in a crouching position, waited for a moment before carefully making his way towards the edge.

 _If everything goes well, we will grab the counterpart and be gone in less than half an hour,_ the turtle thought, but he knew he was just being optimistic.

His senses picked up movements. The turtle removed his mask and picked up the goggles. Donatello almost let out a sigh of relief when he saw where the assassin was landing on a rooftop. Shortly later, the counterpart landed, but the double stumbled and fell to his knees. He was exhausted.

 _Show time,_ the Ninja Master thought and put on his mask again. He signaled with the tracking device that he was moving in. The dogi-wearing turtle then picked up both his Jo staffs and leaped.

* * *

"If we move on in this direction we will…" Assassin Leonardo stopped in his explanations, frowned and then quickly grabbed for his katana. The black-masked turtle swiftly turned around just as the Ninja Master landed and attacked.

"What the… Donny, you and your timings," the assassin growled as he blocked an attack from the dogi-wearing turtle.

Donatello simply spun his Jo staffs and kept attacking, pressing his opponent away from the stunned counterpart. The Ninja Master ducked when the assassin hew with the sword. He then tried a roundhouse kick. Leonardo simply jumped back to avoid it.

"I really would be enjoying kicking your sorry tail at another time. But I am busy," the assassin growled. His attempts to get towards his counterpart were always thwarted; Donatello always got into his way and forced him away.

 _You are not getting near him,_ the Ninja Master thought and blocked a punch, then slammed down with his staff. He scored a hit on the shoulder. Leonardo gritted his teeth and adjusted his stance, blocking the other Jo with the katana.

"I swear Don…" the assassin was interrupted. Donatello managed to get within his defenses and kick him in the plastron, throwing him even further back.

Donatello knew he was pressing his luck; he wouldn't be scoring free hits for now. So far the assassin had simply been trying to get around him. No doubt Leonardo intended to escape to the counterpart and disappear with him. The real fighting hadn't even begun.

"All right, you asked for it," Leonardo growled as he jumped back to his feet. Then with a snarl he charged at the Ninja Master.

* * *

Magistrate Raphael quickly scaled the fire escape ladder, after him came Deputy Michelangelo. They soon arrived on the rooftop and witnessed where their brothers fought. The Ninja Master was so far doing well, but who knew how long that would last. They were pressed on time.

"Hey you," Raphael whispered, they were very close to the counterpart. The injured turtle was staring stunned at the fight.

"W-wha?" The turtle turned and his frightful eyes opened wide when seeing the magistrate.

"We are here to help you; Don is distracting him so you can get out of here. Follow us," Raphael whispered, trying not to be too obvious in the ladder.

"I-I…" the counterpart glanced back to the fight. It was getting a bit heated. Leonardo's whole attention was now on Donatello.

"Come quickly, please trust us. We are getting you away from him, perhaps we can even get you back home." Raphael knew he was making a big promise right now. However, he was currently willing to promise the guy a wax job on the carapace and a room at the Plaza hotel if it meant getting him down and into the car.

Unfortunately, the counterpart was frozen; his fear was just too strong. He would need help. Sighing Raphael climbed all the way to the rooftop and Mike followed soon after. They quickly approached the turtle and grabbed his arms gently. Then they pulled the reptile to the fire escape.

"W-w…" the counterpart didn't seem to know what to say or do; he looked around frightened but didn't yell out or anything.

"Climb down after Mike," Raphael instructed and pushed gently at the turtle to go down after the deputy. It was then when the turtle seemed to catch on and began scaling down the ladder. The magistrate followed soon after.

* * *

"Dammit!" Leonardo noticed too late where his two other brothers were pretty much removing the counterpart off the roof.

He blocked a shot from Donatello who still was in his way to stop the rescue. The black-masked turtle growled, glaring at the dogi-wearing reptile. Then he kicked and was too quick for his brother. The Ninja Master flew back but managed to regain balance in the air and landed on his feet.

The assassin was about to charge but stopped in mid run. His eyes narrowed on Donatello who was in a fighting position with his Jo staffs, ready to strike at any given moment. Leonardo's expression eased a little, he realized that his brother would not allow him passage and was already delaying him too much.

"Don't think you won, Donny-boy," the assassin said and sheathed his sword. Leonardo smirked now smugly, confusing the Ninja Master a bit.

"He wasn't the first," the older turtle said and his smirk changed into a malicious grin. "He won't be the last."

 _What does he mean by that?_ Underneath his head-mask, Donatello frowned in confusion.

"And you won't be able to save them all," Leonardo chuckled cruelly; suddenly he picked up a dimension traveler and quickly operated it. Before the Ninja Master could react, the assassin was gone through the dark portal.

* * *

Deputy Michelangelo glanced back, in the backseat sat the counterpart. The injured turtle held his hands around himself, shivering, looking frightened around. So far he had hardly said a word. Only confirmed that his name was indeed Leonardo, leaving no doubt that this was a reptile from an Alternative Universe.

"So what now?" Mike asked and faced the front again.

"Drive until we see D… there he is," the magistrate stopped the car when they saw their dogi wearing turtle land silently on a sidewalk. The Ninja Master wasted no time to get into the car, which his brother then drove off.

"We better take him to your house… I don't want to disturb Master Splinter," Raphael told his brothers, they just nodded. The counterpart hadn't moved much, he had though jumped a bit when Donatello had appeared suddenly in the car.

"Did you have trouble with Leo?" Mike glanced back at his twin who shook his head, but there was something different about his silence now. The deputy knew his brother well enough to detect that.

"What's up bro?" Michelangelo said, but his brother made no signals.

"I'll tomorrow check with the IDA HQ, maybe they detected any unusual dimensional activity," the magistrate said as he drove into his brother's neighborhood.

They arrived at the twin's house. The turtles had to coax the counterpart to come with them out. Trying to assure him that he was safe and in no danger. Slowly the brothers managed to get him inside and seated on the couch. Raphael sat on the armchair and Donatello on another. Michelangelo went into the kitchen to get something to drink.

"You are safe now," the magistrate assured the shivering turtle on the couch again. Raphael bit his lip, not completely sure what to do. The similarities between this turtle and his Leonardo were uncanny.

"Tell me, did he hurt you. Did he do this too you?" the magistrate asked gently, gesturing to the counterpart's injuries. The AU turtle slowly looked up; the fear in his eyes could hardly be described with words. Yet the abused reptile hesitantly nodded.

 _Now the question is why, but I'm not sure he can answer that._ Raphael was at loss. This was a case he had never dreamed of having to face.

"Ok, I want to talk with my brother for a bit, just stay here. Mike will be coming soon with something to drink," the magistrate told the counterpart who was staring at the coffee table. Then he gestured to Donatello to stand up and follow him into the hallway.

"Don, you think you have any idea what Leo is up to with this?" Raphael whispered when they were out of sight from the living room. He didn't like it that Donatello didn't answer right away. That meant he might even have an idea and the magistrate was not going to like it.

 _The Assassin told me not to think I had won by rescuing this turtle,_ the Ninja Master finally signaled. _He told me, he wasn't the first and he wouldn't be the last._

"Leo has engaged other counterparts?" Raphael whispered. His eyes wide open in shock. "And is planning to engage more?"

 _Apparently so, but I still can't grasp the idea why._ The Ninja Master sighed. _The answer might lie with our guest now. Even though he might not be able to tell us much, we might be able to gather something._

Raphael nodded in agreement. He was though not looking forward to the future right now. Seemed their oldest brother had an unexpected agenda nobody had even thought of considering. Who would? Most people were warned off traveling to alternative universes.

"SHIT!" They heard Mike shout and then the sound of shattering glass. The two turtles arrived back at the living room and froze in horror. Mike was standing in the other doorway, frozen solid, in front of him were the shattered remains of glasses and spilled liquid.

On the couch the counterpart was too late to save. He lay now sprawled on the couch and the blood still oozing out of a long cut on his neck. On the floor lay the instrument of this deed, a knife that had previously been on the coffee table. It belonged to Ninja Master Donatello. He had left it there earlier today and forgot to pick it up again.

Finally, the magistrate came to his senses and rushed to the couch, but he could only confirm the obvious. The turtle was dead, having cut his own throat. It was no doubt he had done it shortly after the magistrate and the Ninja Master disappeared out of the living room.

 _Leo… you fucking bastard…_ Raphael gritted his teeth. It was clear to him now, the abuse and torture had been too much for the counterpart to bear, not to mention the shock alone to meet a counterpart of himself. He had seen the knife and simply done the only thing his frightful mind could think of. End it.

* * *

 _Many, many years later._

"What is this knife doing there?" blue-masked teenage Leonardo asked, he was staring at a knife that was bolted to a plaque.

"It's a reminder," Magistrate Raphael said, eyeing the weapon that hung on his office wall.

"Of what?" The younger turtle turned to the desk the mask-less one was sitting by.

"Many years ago… we rescued a counterpart from Leo," Raphael explained and looked very regretful.

"It was how we discovered that Leo had a thing for his counterparts. The rescue took about an hour, ten minutes later, the counterpart we saved used that knife to end his life," the magistrate told Leo whose jaw dropped slightly. "We never even had a chance to find his world."

"The knife belonged to Don, but he refused to handle it again after what happened. I took it, put it on the plaque and hung it on my wall." Raphael then looked gravely at the young ninja. "This knife is a reminder for me. Help the others not to give up, if they do the assassin has won and they will never have truly escaped his control."

"I'm sorry," Leonardo said, eyeing the knife now with a completely different mindset.

"That's ok. If we had any senses back then we would have kept a watch on the poor guy. However, we had never faced a situation like that before. We got lucky with his rescue really, it has seldom been that easy. I guess we let the good luck go to our heads. But at least this experience has taught us to be more careful now if anything," the magistrate nodded.

Leonardo nodded, the blue-clad turtle then turned when there was a knock on the door. Into the office peeked his Donatello. The purple-masked ninja greeted the magistrate and then glanced to his brother.

"Hey Leo, we will be going soon, the Ninja Master will be here in a moment," the olive-green turtle told him.

"Right, I'm coming," Leonardo said and turned to the magistrate. "We'll be going then, goodbye."

"See you four around sometimes." The magistrate smiled, referring also to, Mikey and Raph. The two younger turtles left the office, leaving the older one behind.

Magistrate Raphael sighed and opened a drawer on his desk. From there he picked a brown folder. Opening it revealed papers with what looked like a jumble of numbers and letters, around one line was a large red circle and in front of it a question mask.

 _Why haven't you gone and checked if it is the one,_ a tiny voice in Raphael's mind popped up. _If only to confirm it._

 _But… what would be the use? He's been dead for years, what if I find his brothers? What do I say? Your brother was abused and tortured by my brother, then committed suicide in my other brothers home?_ A more skeptical voice echoed through his mind.

Sighing the magistrate put the papers back in the folder and returned it to the drawer. He closed it and rose up from the desk. Glancing at the knife Raphael shook his head; some things were best left unsolved. Then he left the office to take a break.

 **End less than one and half hour**


End file.
